Social/Personality Psychology Graduate Programs

Social-Personality Psychology

Social and personality psychologists study how both individual traits and social environment contribute to human behavior. They explore a wide range of issues, including racial prejudice, romantic attraction, aggression and violence, and conforming to social norms. They do this through laboratory research, clinical experiences, fieldwork, and even historical study.

Because the field is so heavily research-oriented, the majority of jobs in social and personality psychologists require graduate-level study – often practitioners may find it useful to earn a master’s degree or Ph.D. in Social-Personality Psychology. Students typically begin their master’s level graduate work with courses that introduce the various types of psychology as well as courses in research methods and statistics. Then, they typically proceed to more specialized courses in social and personality psychology, including those focused on human attitudes, small group interaction, cultural psychology, social judgment, and personality assessment. These courses help prepare them to pursue their own original research and complete a dissertation.

The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest professional organization for psychologists, and it offers an array of opportunities for pontential career development. Social and personality psychologists may also benefit from membership in the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Though smaller than the APA, it is an organization specifically dedicated to this particular branch of psychology with over 5,500 members. The group enables those in the field to publish research, attend conferences, and network with others professionals of similar interests.

Psychologists work in a wide range of environments, from government and health care to education and private practice. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 12% growth rate in the number of positions for psychologists between 2012 and 2022, which is average.

Top industries employing psychologists in 2013 are listed in the chart below, along with the annual mean salary for each.

Note that these statistics do not include clinical, counseling, school, or industrial-organizational psychologists; they reflect employment for all other psychologists, including social and personality psychologists.

Psychologists

Industry

2013 Employment

Annual Mean Wage*

Federal Executive Branch

6,990

$88,080

Offices of Other Health Practitioners

1,360

$104,450

Colleges Universities, and Professional Schools

530

$64,260

General Medical and Surgical Hospitals

420

$90,530

Offices of Physicians

260

$92,740

Source: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes193039.htm

*Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a “year-round, full-time” hour’s figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall. The median wage is the 50th percentile wage estimate –50 percent of workers earn less than the median and 50 percent of workers earn more than the median.